Book detail for The Makeshift Rocket

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Up the Space Rebels!

Knud Axel Syrup, chief engineer of the spaceship Mercury Girl, sat and drank his favorite beer and thought about the war he was desperately anxious to avoid. The planetoid he was stranded on, Grendel, was occupied by a band of fiery Irish revolutionaries who weren't loading their guns with shamrocks. And once the Anglians found out about the invasion, they'd make the legendary Donnybrook seem like a harmless Rugby match.

When Herr Syrup shook up a bottle of brew and let the foam shoot out of its top, he knew what had to be done to get off Grendel.

And so came about a marvelous spaceship, built of beer kegs, bound by gunk, upholstered with pretzel boxes and powered — for the first time in space travel history — by the mighty reaction forces of malted brew!

Cast of Characters

Knud Axel SyrupThis sane Dane only slept with his bicycle on some nights. On the others, he slept with his spaceship.

Sarmishkidu Von HimmelschmidtA Martian by birth and a German by profession, this barkeep had the only pair of six-legged lederhosen ever made.

Emily CroftDedicated to the classical dance, she didn't believe in wearing lederhosen — or much of anything else.

Rory McConnellThe Auld Sod was the only love of the major's life — until he laid eyes on Emily.

General Scourge-of-the-Sassenach O'TooleThe commander of the Shamrock Expeditionaries, he was know to his men as S.O.T.S. For short.

ThwickhammerOf a repetitious law firm, he suffered from a lack of identity.